RANT -- In its ongoing campaign to reinvent itself, Netscape decided last month that Java wasn't the wave the future and quickly bailed out of the language market. While the repercussions through the flatlands of Silicon Valley are still being felt, most folks haven't taken the time to understand what actually happened. That's why we're here to help.
Myth #1: Java is doomed. While Netscape's lack of active support isn't a boost, it's does resolve the question: Why is a software maker doing in the
language business? Sure, Netscape's early support of Java made it the language du jour, but Netscape's strength has always been the Internet. While Sun would have you believe that Java is "the" language of the 'Net, the bottom line is that it's a language which was retrofitted to embrace the Internet. Fortunately, Java is a technically beautiful language that was well up to the task, but, in the long run, Netscape wasn't.
Clue: Leave the language work to the companies that have done it before: Borland, Symantec, Microsoft, Metrowerks, what have you.
Myth #2: Java is doomed (really doomed). The fact that Netscape gave up work on it's virtual machine has everyone in a tizzy regarding the future of Java. This is where peoples understanding of the language really breaks down. There are two major components of Java, the virtual machine and the class libraries. In a perfect world, all you'd need to do is port the virtual machine to a platform and the class libraries would just run. In the real world, there is also significant porting which need to be done on the class libraries. Until now, Netscape was the primary porting center for Javasoft's VMs. Netscape was asking for this trouble because of the fact that their browser runs everywhere, but, again, they weren't up to the task.
Clue: Most of the major players in Unix land (HP, IBM) are already working on VMs for their own platforms and that makes sense. Who better knows the ins and outs of a platform than the developer of that platform. With their Open Java Initiative (if developers choose to support it), Netscape gets out of the Java business, but inherits the VMs designed specifically for the platforms their browser runs on. Of particular importance is that Netscape will be now free to plug-in in Microsoft's VM which means that Sun no longer has a strangle hold on Java support for the #1 browser. Translation: Competition is a good thing.
Language purists are baffled by Netscape's shift in strategy. They believe Java's technical advantages make it the only choice as a development platform of the future. Problem is, there are garages around this valley full of documentation and floppy disk for LISP, Prolog, FORTH, Scheme… all products crowned the language of the future when it turns out all they were just another entry in Yahoo!
mar. 6, 1998